DISCLAIMER: Welcome! I am Nuin and I will be your guide as we embark on this wondrous tour of Yugi-Oh and Yaoi-land. Now remember that feeding and petting the characters is forbidden at all times. I do not wish for them to run off with any of you, which would result in disabling me from writing the rest of the story. Please keep your arms and legs inside the moving vehicle as I do not wish to receive any lawsuits containing dismemberment of tour-guests. Also may I make you aware of the fact that I do not own anything besides the plot. Thank you.
WARNING: May I also kindly remind you that this story is in fact a Yaoi-story. Which means lovers of the same gender. Anyone with restrictions against this form of love is asked to please leave the premises as it will probably upset the characters. Now if you'll please turn to your right, I believe that we are in for a treat as the characters begin on a new story.
NOTIFICATION: This is the sequel to 'Born to Servitude'. Though 'Rebirth of The Damned' can be read standing alone, it would help in the understanding of the relations between the characters, if you were to read 'Born to Servitude' first. If you want other additional reading 'Revenge Is Best Served With A Pinch Of Insanity' and 'You Want What?' are one-shots following after the events that take place in 'Born to Servitude' and before 'Rebirth of The Damned'.
Thanks to the reviewers:
PlAiN-ahsie-SiMpLe, FanFicFanGurl101, Pennypigeon, Tsukiyohei, Kat Tales
Rebirth of The Damned
By Nuin
25. In Search of Answers.
Blinking away fresh tears from his eyes, Marik slowly got to his feet, wincing as he shifted his weight onto the hurt ankle. He bit his lower lip, willing the pain to go away, and began to slowly make his way out of the room and downstairs into the living room to pick up the still ringing phone. He hobbled down the stairs, cringing as the shrill tone of the phone got louder with each painstakingly slow step he took. Finally he reached the table where the telephone was ringing louder than ever before, he stretched out his hand and lifted the handle, muttering a croaking 'yes?' into the mouthpiece.
"Marik-kun, is that you?" A soft voice asked.
"Yes…"
"It's about time, Marik-kun! We've been trying to reach you for the last hour or two! Where have you been!" The soft voice increased in volume and became screeching at the end of the rant.
Marik heaved a deep sigh. "In my room."
He could almost hear the other person thinking and imagined a confused expression on the other's face. The line was silent for several moments and when the person on the other end finally spoke again, it was in a low, serious tone. "Marik-kun, we need you to come over to the Kame Game Shop, it's important."
Marik blinked and swallowed the large lump that had been stuck in his throat for who knew how long, probably since he has first found the soulless body of his older sister. He nodded once as if his companion could see him and answered with terse 'yes, he would be there as soon as possible'.
"Good, see you then, Marik-kun." And then the phone line went silent as the other person hung up.
The blond youth looked at the receiver for some time, staring at it like it was a foreign object then slowly put it back down onto it holding place. Moving slowly around the empty house gathering his keys and wallet, Marik awoke bit by bit within his mind until he was feeling clearheaded and alert enough to not unconsciously wander off into the oncoming traffic as he exited the house. He walked with a slight limp down the street toward the city centre, feeling a light breeze upon his skin and the warm rays of the sun brought a small smile to his lips.
However the warmth of the sun did nothing to stop the chill from slivering down his back as he came closer the Game Shop. He could practically feel the tendrils of shadow magic having been used not too long ago and his body shuddered with the icy cold of the hateful emotions behind the magic. It was a destructive force, when used without care and a test of wills, when someone tried to apply control over it. It could bring the strongest of men to their knees, gasping for breath, their life force drained to feed the magic or it could twist their thoughts until they only consisted of a darkness few would ever come across.
The shadow magic which had been used in this area brought Marik's thoughts to a halt at his own darker half. What had Marik no Yami wanted from him? What did he even want from him now, at this time? It was clear that his other half was no longer a mere spirit, sentenced to drift around in the darkened realm of shadows. He was able to take on a corporal form and more than capable of touching Marik with the lightest of caresses. Marik no Yami could do what he wanted, why should he then be of any importance? Vengeance would seem the most probable of ideas. But if his darker half had wanted it exact revenge over Marik, he would have had the opportune time to do so a mere half hour ago. The why hadn't he?
He had become so lost in his own thoughts that he would have passed by the Game shop had a hand not landed on his shoulder and a soft voice called out to him. Marik nearly squeaked in surprise as he was turned around by gentle, but firm hands - reminding him of those of Marik no Yami as they had examined his foot - and he found himself staring into golden brown eyes exuding concern.
"Marik, are you alright?" Jou asked, putting his arm around the other blond's shoulders, pulling him tightly against his side and leading him toward the front door of the Kame Game Shop.
"Uh…yeah, just got a bit distracted." Marik muttered softly and stepped into the shop.
Jou gave him a look, then shook his head. "A bit distracted? Any more distracted and you would have walked out onto the road…into traffic, with cars going by at idiocy speed."
"Katsuya, there is no such thing as idiocy speed." A calm, but a bit exasperated voice said as Jou and Marik walked through the back of the shop and into the house attached to it.
The blond snorted with a roll of his eyes. "Of course there is, Seto. You drive at idiocy speed. It's a good thing we had the chauffeur today, otherwise you would have run over that little old lady at the intersection."
Blue eyes narrowed at the insult and Seto huffed a reply. "She was on the pavement."
"I know." Jou countered as he smoothly removed his arm from around Marik's shoulders, leaving the platinum blond to find a seat, and happily sat down in Seto' lap, giving the brunet a quick kiss to silence any acid comment he could have uttered. "So what's the what? And with tall, dark and Egyptian here, I'm sure it's no good." Jou reached down past his knees and threaded his hand through the soft fur of the ever growing puppy, now over a year old, yet still as bouncy as when Seto had first been given Onyx for his birthday. The dog closed its eyes at the welcome touch, tilting its head to allow Jou more access for a thorough petting.
"It is not." Yami said from his perch on the arm of the chair, Yugi had made himself comfortable in. "It is definitely not a good thing."
"So what is it? Murder? Mayhem? A massacre?" Yami Bakura eagerly offered even as he received a sound whack on the back of his head by his other half, who glared at him with a disapproving expression.
"None, Tomb Robber. Royal annals."
"Annals? What do we want with boring annals of even more boring royal history?
"Answers." Shadi answered quietly. "These annals have been lost for millennia."
"And with you present at this time, I'm assuming they have resurfaced?." Seto said, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's midsection and resting his chin on the Jou's shoulder.
"Quite so, Miss Ishtar has been given the privilege of having it on display, it was how she discovered its true meaning. I believe she has spent some time translating the text."
"Well, that's convenient." Jou muttered with a roll of his eyes.
Yugi leaned forward in his seat, perching his elbows on his knees and resting his chin in the cup formed by his hands. "So what does these annals say?"
"I am afraid that it has not been translated fully yet and with Miss Ishtar's soul having been taken, she will not have the chance to complete her task."
Marik froze at the words uttered so callously by his fellow countryman, Shadi's voice was so calm and collected as if this entire thing did not matter at to him. Gripping onto the arms of his chair, Marik fought down the urge to stand up and punch the other man. He wanted to scream and yell and curse at the injustice of being so detached from the care of human life…his sister's life.
"Isis-san was assaulted, just like the others?" Yugi's horrified voice broke through his train of thought forcing him to pay attention to what was being said again, instead of entertaining his anger at Shadi's cool appearance toward his family. "Marik-kun, did you know about this?" Yugi asked cautiously, looking at him with barely restrained concern.
Marik bowed his head as everyone turned to look at him. He gave a curt nod in response to Yugi's question and gripped harder onto the cushioned armrests of his chair, digging his fingers into the fabric. A hand suddenly crept across one of his own, gently holding it in a sign of comfort, he looked up to see Jou smiling sadly and before he could move he was embraced in a tight hug from the blond.
Jou's hand rubbed soothing circles on his back as softly crooned into his ear. "We'll get our sisters and everyone else back, Marik. I know we will and then we'll kick the bastards' asses."
Marik wrapped his arms around Jou and buried his face in the other man's neck, returning the comforting hug. "Thanks, Jou-kun." He mumbled, relaxing somewhat fro the first time since he had found Isis in her office.
"No problem, Marik." The blond grinned. "What are friends for?"
"Orgies?"
"BAKURA!" Ryou yelled as he placed another well aimed smack against the back of his darker half.
"I just answered the man's question, Hikari." Bakura snorted and crossed his arms in front his chest with a huff, shooting an annoyed glare at he younger man.
"No one asked you to, idiot yami." He rewarded said yami with another resound smack on his head.
"Well, I thought it was a perfectly good question." The former spirit grumbled, rubbing at the aching spot on his head and with a roll of his eyes, he leaned back against the chair, he was sitting in.
"All right, that will be enough!" Seth snapped. "Tomb Robber, get your mind out of the gutter for a change. Ryou, stop hitting him. Shadi, keep talking…what does the records say?"
Shadi merely nodded once, showing no sign of having been disturbed by the row between the two white haired boys. "They speak of an event that took place long before the Pharaoh was born. Before the God-kings brought unity and peace to the land. Chaos and darkness ruled. The monsters of the shadows were free to roam the world of light, our world. They had not yet been contained within the Shadow Realm." He paused to let the words sink in. "Chaos and darkness had a master, a ruler if you will, created by pure hate. Every negative feeling from every mortal alive created him. Hate, fear, anger were his driving force, his sustenance."
"Kami." Honda breathed. "That's so redundant. Big bad guy, master of all evil, want to rule the world…blah blah blah. Why can't the bad guys ever be more inventive?"
"Well, why don't you go ask them then? That way, we'll be free of your commentary…and can we get back to the point?" Seto growled. "Shadi, if you already know what the text entails, why was Isis-san translating it?" He looked at the dark skinned man expectantly with a hint of suspicion in his blue eyes.
"I only know the general details of the annals, Light of Seth. It is said however that they contain the spell used by the first God-king to banish and shackle the monsters and their ruler to the shadows."
"Ah."
"So why don't we get the rest translated?" Jou asked, perking up at the though of getting rid off the maniacs that had taken his little sister.
"It is not that simple, young one…it is an old text and few can read, much less transla-" Shadi began to explain.
"We have - what?- five people her who knows Ancient Egyptian…it shouldn't be that hard to get it translated." Jou interrupted and continued at the blank look on the Egyptian man's face. "Yami, Bakura, Seth, Marik and you."
"And yourself, Jou." Seth added with a smile.
"Uh, yeah…anyway where's the text?" Jou blushed. "We might want to get started as soon as possible."
"I believe-" Shadi once again tried to speak.
Only to be interrupted by Marik. "Shadi, is it a large stone tablet?"
"…yes." The Egyptian answered slowly.
"Okay, then it's in my sister's office, Jounouchi."
Jou jumped up from his seat and headed toward the front entrance of the house to grab his shoulder bag. He turned around to look expectantly at the others. "Well, is anyone coming with? We got a text to translate and evil to banish…huh, doesn't sound that hard when it's said like that." He shrugged the strap of the bag over his head and rested it on his shoulder. "Yugi, it is alright if we leave Onyx here? Since Mokuba was-" He paused. "Since Mokuba, if any of us are out, no one will be there to look after him. Do you think your 'Kaasan could…"
"I'm sure she'll be alright with it, Jou-kun." Yugi answered with a smile and went to join the blond, patting the aforementioned dog's head on the way.
Jou returned the smile with a bright one of his own, then looked at the rest of the gang. "Well? Who's coming with?"
"Hello."
"You're back…" His voice was scratchy from disuse and his throat parched from the lack of fluids. He blinked slowly, focusing his tired eyes on the youth, who had crouched down beside him.
"I am."
Sampson breathed a heavy sigh, his entire body relaxing with the one movement and exhaled the stress of his old bones. He could feel every joint in his won body creak with each shift he made to get more comfortable. Finally he managed to roll over to his side, from where he could rest his limbs without too much strain on them and still watch the young man, without stretching his neck upward only to create a crick in his back. He gazed at the young man beside him, his eyes taking in the sight of confusion on the tanned face. His tongue darted out to wet his dry and cracked lips, before he breathed in. "Why?"
The youth shrugged slightly. "You were still awake."
"And that is why you're here…now?"
"Hmm…yes." Dark mauve coloured eyes looked at his from under lowered lashes, the youth's face was relaxed, mouth closed into a small line and he had crossed his arms assuming the position of a rather bored and still individual. He gazed at Sampson for a few moments, the silence between them stretching out in time. Then with a jerk of his upper body, it was as if he had come to life, his former slightly dull eyes shining with inquisition. "He was crying too."
"Who?" Sampson asked slowly, wondering what or who the young man was enquiring him understand about.
"Him…my other." The blond said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
The older man knitted his bushy eyebrows together in confusion. "I don't understand. Him, who?"
The youth looked like he was contemplating something for a split second then his face was struck by an odd smile, soft, yet crooked in it appearance. "My other half…or I am his, I am not sure…he locked me away here."
"Something we have in common then…you wouldn't be able to help me get out of here, would you?" Sampson said hopefully, his fingers digging nervously at the dusty ground below him.
The young man stared at him, before bursting into a laughter that fell from his lips in peals, it was clear, with a slight undertone of a high pitch as if his voice had recently cracked from that of childhood. "Of course not. My master would be very cross with me if I let anyone go."
"Your master?" Sampson searched his memories and came up with a likely candidate for this title. The older man that had been with the youth beside him the day everything went to hell, for him at least. There had been another, a young woman…and then the hideous beast. He had thought that he would die, when he had seen that thing. But instead it had merely chomped down on his arm and dragged him off, leaving him apparently alone on this spot, until he had first woken up to the cool lavender eyes of the young man. And it struck him that he didn't even know the other man's name. "What is your name?" He asked.
He was met by a sad face, eyes closed shut and a slim tanned hand came up to run through the wildly spiked hair. "I do not have one…"
"Oh." Sampson could feel his face heat up with embarrassment of approaching a subject, which so obviously bothered the blond.
Then two mauve eyes popped open and stared at him with a resolve that overpowered the sadness, which had permeated the air around the younger man. "But they call me Marik no Yami. I am called that." He said resolutely with an affirmative nod. "It is who I am…now."
"Now? But then who were you before?" He looked at Marik no Yami, appreciating that he finally had a name to put to the face, instead of calling him the young man in his head indefinitely.
"I was…hate…and fear, locked away by love until that love was taken and I was free." Marik no Yami paused and looked deep in thought, one of his hands lodged firmly in a wild spike of blond hair, tugging slightly. "Then I was banished, locked away here. But now I am me." A tiny smile spread across his lips as if it was the first time, he had ever uttered those words and perhaps he had never thought that they meant something imperative to him.
Sampson gazed at the blond, watching his face light up with a sudden awareness, not the childlike expression of curiosity Marik no Yami had worn so often in his presence. This was as if a light had been turned on inside his head and burned bright through his eyes. Former hooded lavender eyes were wide and shining, bringing an exuberant life to the tanned face.
"I am me." Marik no Yami said in a whisper.
"You are." Sampson confirmed, knowing that this child had seen himself as only a part of someone else for a long time and not his own person. It was an emotion he had seen many times in his lifetime, sometimes people forgot who they were as individuals and instead saw themselves as parts of something else. While it was it was good thing in his mind that they felt a unity and a sense of belonging, forgetting themselves and who they were, however was not.
"I am." Marik no Yami grinned, then he disappeared.
Sampson groaned and let his head fall against the hard ground with a thud, he had been left behind again. In the dark.
Walking their rounds in the lively hallways two doctors looked sadly into the rooms as they passed each one containing several of the patients suffering the mysterious illness, which had spread out through the world with a speed that was unheard of. In the last six months more than a fifth of the world's population had been affected. So many people, who were now occupying nearly every available bed in hospitals around the world. Those who could not be given a place in the hospitals were forced to stay in their own homes, however a doctor came to check them as often as possible.
Even though it had been more than six months since the first of many had been brought in, doctors around the globe were as baffled as ever. They still had no idea what may have caused this epidemic, no clues as to what could be done to alleviate the illness and still more victims were discovered.
They were at a loss.